How to Prep Your Clients for the Design Process

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Tuesday, December 6, 2011


By Linda Merrill

Several years ago, before I transitioned from television to interior design, I was working with a career counseling firm to help me figure out a new professional direction for myself. One of the exercises I was given was to quickly go through the help wanted ads and mark any job listings that appealed to me for whatever reason. They didn't need to be jobs I actually might be interested in or qualified for; I was to just quickly mark anything that was appealing without thinking too much about it. Together with my career counselor, we would go over my selections and figure out if there was a story to tell about my personal desires that I wasn't yet aware of. And, in fact, there was. As it turned out, I'd selected listing for jobs that were mainly independent, autonomous and generally creative. The exercise didn't point me directly to the interior design industry, but it did show me that I wasn't overly interested in working for others. I wanted to be independent and definitely not corporate.

And so it is with the design process and clients. It's very common in the interior design industry to ask a client to gather images from magazines of items they like so we can get a feel for their taste and design aesthetic, beyond what we see in their existing homes. As it was at the career counselors, design clients are often surprised at what they find out about themselves. It's an excellent exercise to help the client broaden their ideas of what they like and what's available out in the marketplace. Most client prospects, by the time they are calling in a designer, have spent time poring over magazines and have pulled out at least a few images. I've had clients with a handful of photos and others with annotated notebooks.

Regardless of the scope of this "self-discovery", any information will inform the process greatly. A prospective client once proudly showed me her bulging notebook, which clearly went back years. One of the first things I noticed was that most of the kitchen and furniture images included painted, not stained, wood. Interestingly, when I commented that it looked like she had a preference for painted cabinets, she was surprised. I think it was a bit of an "aha" moment for her, as it was for me.

I realized that photographic evidence (for lack of a better term) was better than anecdotal. Clients may not have the language to describe what they want and are sometimes hemmed in by what they think are the correct answers. I also discovered that some homeowners are more interested in the dreaming stage of the process than they are in actually carrying out a plan.

And so, when meeting with a client prospect for the first or second time, I always ask them to bring me some magazine cuttings and other inspiration images to show me what they like. Their willingness to participate in this exercise, or their lack of participation, is very telling about their commitment to the design process.

Here is a list of resources that I point client prospects to for gathering design inspiration:

  • Shelter magazines. Popular print glossies such as Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Traditional Home and Veranda are places to start. Regional and local publications are also great resources for local flavor such as Southern Living or Coastal Living.
  • Online design magazines, beginning with Lonny and Rue and the many smaller publications available, are great resources for products and popular, more trendy or youthful tastes.
  • Design blogs are always a great resource for inspirations from around the world. Blogs that are particularly photo-heavy and therefore good to peruse are Cote de Texas, Velvet & Linen, The Kitchen Designer, Pure Style Home, and Desire to Inspire.
  • Google images is a great free resource. I tell clients to go to Google Images and search by space: traditional bedroom, modern living room, etc. I find this is particularly helpful for people to understand what the terms they're using might mean when in comes to design. "Modern" has a slightly different meaning than "Contemporary," yet they're often used interchangeably by clients.
  • Travel inspiration is also telling. Beyond specific interior design publications and images, I also recommend clients think about travel destinations and/or artwork that they like. They may not want to live in a medieval Italian villa, but they may discover that they love the rich hues and textures found on the walls, or the coolness of handmade terracotta tiles on the floors.

These materials, when viewed as a whole, will most likely clearly illustrate the likes, and dislikes, of a client, and provide a great foundation for communication for you to build on.

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Linda Merrill is a residential interior decorator based in Massachusetts. Linda's design style can be described as "comfortable luxury" and she believes in working closely with clients throughout the entire design process. Her clients are mainly located between metro-Boston and Cape Cod and the Islands. Linda writes a nationally regarded design blog called ::Surroundings:: and is the host of the design podcast series The Skirted Roundtable.